Falkland Islands, Beauchêne Marine (100082)
Falkland Islands (Malvinas), South America
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: A1b, A1d, B1, D1a
Year of last assessment: 2021
National site name: Falkland Islands, Beauchêne Marine
Central coordinates: Latitude: -52.9021, Longitude: -59.1859
System: marine
Area of KBA (km2): 100.697364
Protected area coverage (%): 0.41
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: No
Site details
Site description: The Falkland Islands are located on the Patagonian continental shelf. The proposed Beauchene Island Marine site consists entirely of coastal marine habitat surrounding the island. No existing marine protected areas are located with the site. Much of the habitat in these inshore waters is considered as relatively pristine in nature, with few major anthropogenic impacts. If maintained, these inshore waters could therefore be expected to support important populations of numerous marine species for decades to come.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: As of September 2021, a single major assessment has occurred to assess whether particular areas of the Falkland Islands inshore marine environment contain populations of seabird species which trigger global KBA criteria. The assessment found that for the waters surround Beauchene Island, the following two species have populations which trigger global KBA criteria within the site: Black-browed Albatross (LC), Southern-Rockhopper Penguin (VU). The assessment of seabird data also identified this marine site being important for local breeding populations of at least 8 other seabird species. The KBA also comprises habitat that is currently of a relatively pristine nature and without major anthropogenic impacts, and if maintained it could therefore be expected to support important populations of numerous marine species for decades to come. For full details about the assessments please contact Falklands Conservation for the associated technical repor: Handley et al. (2021). Handley et al. (2021). Falkland Islands KBA Analysis for seabirds - Progressing inshore designations of Key Biodiversity Areas for seabirds, and their application to management of the marine environment. Falklands Conservation, Stanley, Falkland Islands.
Additional biodiversity: More than 30 species have been recorded on the island this marine site surrounds. The majority being migratory seabirds that are present in very large numbers during the breeding season. The site is significant for the second largest populations in the world of Blackbrowed Albatrosses and Rockhopper Penguins. The area is also recognised to be important for Wilson’s Storm-petrels, Grey-backed Storm-petrels, Common Diving Petrels, Fairy Prions, Imperial Shags, White-chinned Petrels, Southern Giant Petrels and Magellanic Penguins. Non-bird biodiversity: The island within this marine site is also host to a few breeding Southern Sea Lions and is a major haul-out station for non-breeding animals, which can congregate in numbers of up to a hundred individuals on the northern part of the island.
Other site values: The Falkland Islands Government is responsible for managing its territorial waters (12 nautical miles from the coast) and waters extending to the limits of the exclusive economic zone (200 nautical miles from the coast). This principally consists of controlling industry activities via licensing conditions and currently no fishing is licenced within 3nm of the coast. However, this is not transcribed into legislation and can be removed under the Director of Natural Resources’ discretion; therefore, it cannot be used towards international multilateral agreements The Falkland Islands Government has investigated managing its marine resources through a process of a marine spatial planning, which was initiated in 2014. As of September 2021, this process has led to the development of a Marine Managed Areas (MMAs) proposal that considers the inshore of environment of the Falkland Islands. The identified KBA overlaps with the MMA proposal and will serve to guide necessary management actions for species within the MMAs.
Delineation rationale: The boundaries of the Beauchene Island Marine KBA were first delineated based on ecological data relevant to seabird species. Within the KBA, globally important populations of seabird species are broadly distributed. Ecologically relevant areas were first identified following several approaches to estimate species distributions and abundance at sea. The identified boundary of the area was then refined to simplify the boundary for management purposes. For full details regarding the boundary delineation rationale, please contact Falklands Conservation for the associated technical repor: Handley et al. (2021). Handley et al. (2021). Falkland Islands KBA Analysis for seabirds - Progressing inshore designations of Key Biodiversity Areas for seabirds, and their application to management of the marine environment. Falklands Conservation, Stanley, Falkland Islands.
Habitats
Land use: N/A
Threats
| Threat level 1 | Threat level 2 | Threat level 3 | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Biological resource use | Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources | Intentional use: large scale (species being assessed is the target) [harvest] | Ongoing |
| Climate change & severe weather | Habitat shifting & alteration | Ongoing | |
| Energy production & mining | Oil & gas drilling | Unknown | |
| Human intrusions & disturbance | Recreational activities | Ongoing | |
| Pollution | Ongoing |